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Judge boots ex-Subway spokesman Jared Fogle's child sex case appeal

Tim Evans, Indianapolis Star
Published 8:32 p.m. ET Nov. 13, 2017

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Jared Fogle, the former Subway sandwich chain pitchman currently serving a sentence for child pornography and sex offenses, was beaten in a Colorado federal prison. The beating happened in late January by another inmate.
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Jared Fogle after a court hearing in August.(Photo: Matt Detrich, The Indianapolis Star)

INDIANAPOLIS -- Former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle's attempt to represent himself in a court challenge to his sex and child pornography convictions didn't go nearly as well as his long, lucrative career selling sandwiches.

Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana last week shot down Fogle's argument that the federal court did not have jurisdiction to convict him.

Walton Pratt called Fogle's legal claim "frivolous" and said his arguments were "shop worn" and had "no conceivable validity in American law."

Fogle, who is being held in a federal prison in Colorado, filed a motion Nov. 6 in U.S. District Court seeking to correct what he claims was a “clear error” in his case. That motion was filed “Pro Se,” a legal term meaning Fogle took the action on his own, rather than with the help of an attorney.

Fogle hired a team of expensive lawyers from Indianapolis and Chicago when he was first charged in the federal sex and pornography case. Despite that legal fire-power, Fogle ended up pleading guilty in 2015 to charges that he traveled across state lines to engage in sex with a minor and possessed child pornography.

Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle, left, enters the federal courthouse in Indianapolis for sentencing on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015. He was sentenced to 15 years, eight months for possession and distribution of child pornography and crossing state lines for commercial sex with a minor.(Photo: Kelly Wilkinson, The Indianapolis Star)

A year later, the Hoosier who earned millions hyping Subway and a healthy lifestyle turned to a public defender for an unsuccessful appeal of his nearly 16-year prison sentence.

In his pro se challenge, Fogle appeared to be hoping for a break based on another motion filed in his case by an unrelated party: Frank Edwin Pate, a Texas man serving a 17-year sentence for wire and mail fraud convictions at the same Colorado prison Fogle now calls home.

Pate was convicted of running a fraudulent foreign currency exchange scheme that bilked investors out of nearly $3 million, according to a statement from the FBI.

In his motion, Fogle cites a “friend of the court” brief Pate filed in September to call attention to the “clear and obvious error” regarding the court’s lack of “Subject Matter Jurisdiction.” Walton Pratt also rejected Pate's motion in September.

In her order denying Fogle's challenge, Walton Pratt noted Fogle was represented by attorneys and voluntarily pleaded guilty. She added a federal appeals court upheld Fogle's conviction and sentence, and the federal courts "clearly had subject matter jurisdiction over Folge's criminal proceedings."

An online database of federal inmates lists Fogle's projected release day as July 11, 2029.